Call To All Parties Who Have Lost In The Elections : Make A Revival Plan And Bounce Back

After the recent elections, the biggest loss to the country is, I think, the plight of the Congress party. The Congress is the oldest party in the country. It fought for the freedom of the country. There have been ups and downs but to come to this stage is very very sad. I don’t know what the Congress President and Vice President are thinking but they must make a revival plan for the Congress. The Congress is present in every village and every district in this country, so they don’t have to build a new organisation. They just have to infuse life into that organisation. And I agree, without the prospect of power, it is a tough thing to do but after five years five years is not a long time in a country’s history — the Congress can bounce back and bounce back well. Provided the Congress workers work. The good part of the Congress is that very few of its workers are likely to go to the BJP because they have differences that go back a long way. Some of the leaders may go but not the workers. The Third Front too is a casuality. Even now regional leaders have no conflict of interest. After all Deve Gowda and Nitish Kumar can easily work together because their JDU and JDS can actually merge. Similarly, other parties should have a little control on their egos. When the Janata Party and Janta Dal were there all the same leaders were sitting around the same table. They had able leaders to guide them. That time can again come, with regional people like Mamata Banerjee, Jayalalitha. The South may not join a national front but they can always cooperate in making a Government. So these people should start working now. As Pramod Mahajan, the late BJP leader and a dear friend of mine used to say when he lost an election, he said I don’t believe in blaming anybody. I believe that 4 years and 364 days from today the new election is there, let us start working. And that is the spirit. The Congress must understand that the next election is 4 years and 364 days away. You lost yesterday. Let’s work for this for 4-5 years. You will again come back to the power. They should not lose heart. And certainly the framework of the Constitution, the Directive Principles on which the Congress is based, nothing has changed.
Regional leaders in the north have taken a drubbing. The entire north in 1971 went with Indira Gandhi, 1977 went with the Janata Party, 1980 went again with Indira Gandhi. This time it is has gone shockingly to the BJP. We never expected it. All the leaders who had a caste base, whether Mulayam Singh in Uttar Pradesh or Lalu in Bihar or Sharad Yadav, they must sit together and put their heads together and win back their vote banks. Another shocking thing that has happened is that Mayawati has got a result of ‘zero’ which is unbelievable. Does it mean the Dalits have deserted her? If that is so, it is a matter of introspection. The only Dalit icon left is Mayawati and they have left her. Obviously, things are not correct and I cannot believe the Dalits have become close to the BJP. How is it possible? That is not possible. That matter needs be examined because the BJP brass sees still treats them as untouchable. Adivasis yes, they do some work, Dalits they don’t do any work with. All these are matters of introspection. Another sad thing that has happened with this result is that the Left parties have
become almost irrelevant. We thought this time in West Bengal they will get a few more seats but that did not happen. Prakash Karat and company should also sit down together and find out how to make the Left again relevant to this country.